International Business

there will be a surge in demand for high quality garments from India and Arvind is

already considering setting up two more such high tech export-oriented factories. It is not just in the area

of manufacture but also retailing that the Arrow brand brought a wind of change on the Indian scene. Prior

to its coming, the usual Indian shirt shop used to be a clutter of racks with little by way of display. What

Arvind Brands did was to set up exclusive showrooms for Arrow shirts in which the functional was

combined with the aesthetic. Stuffed racks and clutter were eschewed. The products were displayed in

such a manner that the customer could spot their qualities from a distance. Of course, today this has

become standard practice with many other brands in the country, but Arrow showed the way. Arrow today

has the largest network of 64 exclusive outlets across India. It is also present in 30 retail chains. It

branched into multi-brand outlets in 2001, and is present in over 200 select outlets.

From just formal dress shirts in the beginning, the product range of Arvind Brands has expanded in the

last ten years to include casual shirts, T-shirts, and trousers. In the pipeline are light jackets and jeans

engineered for the middle-aged paunch. Arrow also tied up with the renowned Italian designer, Renato

Grande, who has worked with names like Versace and Marlboro, to design its Spring I Summer Collection

2003. The company has also announced its intention to license the Arrow brand for other lifestyle

accessories like footwear, watches, undergarments, fragrances, and leather goods. According to Darshan

Mehta, President, Arvind Brands Ltd., the current turnover at retail prices of the Arrow brand in India is

about Rs 85 crore. He expects the turnover to cross Rs 100 crore in the next few years, of which about 15

per cent will be from the licensed non-clothing products.

In 2005, Arvind Brands launched a major retail initiative for all its brands. Arvind Brands licensed brands

(Arrow, Lee and Wrangler) had grown at a healthy 35 per cent rate in 2004 and the company planned to

sustain the growth by increasing their retail presence.